The present invention relates to vehicle grilles, and more specifically, to a solid-state drag reducing vehicle grille.
Automotive vehicles typically have a radiator for cooling the engine. The radiator is commonly situated behind a grille. The grille permits air to flow through and to the radiator as the vehicle moves forward, thus providing an engine cooling benefit. More specifically, vehicle grilles allow oncoming air to flow through to contact and cool the radiator fins, which in turn cool the radiator fluid that cools the engine.
Typically, the location and size of the grille are preferably designed to meet the low speed cooling requirements. The engine cooling requirements are only marginally higher with increased vehicle speed. However, as the vehicle velocity increases so does the amount of airflow into the engine compartment, which slows the vehicle and makes the engine work harder.
The additional airflow at higher vehicle speeds is also detrimental to fuel economy. As vehicle velocity increases, the amount of vehicle aerodynamic drag as a result of the increased airflow into the engine compartment increases. As aerodynamic drag increases, more energy is required to move the vehicle.
To compensate for these detriments, grille covers have been employed in the past to limit the amount of airflow into the engine compartment. However, this approach requires physical manipulation by the operator and has been used mainly on heavy-duty trucks to limit the amount of cold air into the engine compartment. Active grille shutters have also been used in the past to remedy these problems. Such a design is very costly and uses moving shutters, which are controlled by the engine, to actively limit the amount of air allowed into the engine compartment. These designs are complex and prone to failure over time.
It is therefore desired to have airflow through the grille at low and high vehicle speeds to cool the engine, but to redirect the excess airflow that occurs at high vehicle speeds that is not needed. It would therefore be beneficial to have a passive vehicle grille system with a solid-state design having no moving parts that allows sufficient airflow at lower speeds while actively managing airflow at higher speeds, thereby reducing aerodynamic drag and improving fuel economy and vehicle stability. High cost and complexity are also overcome with such a passive system.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a solid-state drag reducing vehicle grille that overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.
It is a feature of the present invention that the solid state drag reducing vehicle grille""s slats have predetermined angles and lengths to allow normal airflow through the grille at lower vehicle speeds while actively redirecting airflow up and over the hood at high vehicle speeds, thereby reducing drag and improving fuel economy.
The present invention advantageously provides a solid state drag reducing vehicle grille for a vehicle including a front bumper carried by the vehicle, left and right grille portions carried by the vehicle situated above the front bumper, and slats carried by the left and right grille portions wherein the slats are adapted to allow air to flow through at low vehicle speeds and to partially redirect airflow at high vehicle speeds.